Greens should come out of the forest

By John Matthews

October 4, 2011 — 3.38pm

You know there's a problem with a brand when your competitors use it as shorthand for all that's bad. So when Liberal frontbenchers spit out the phrase "Green-Labor government" as an expletive you can bet they're pretty sure the "G" word carries negative connotations that will have their supporters grinding their teeth in rage.

Right now the Green brand is a problem.

Out of the woods... Bob Brown is leading his party into a new era. But what about its brand?Credit:Nic Walker

When I close my eyes and imagine the Greens I have a picture of earnest Tasmanians in beards and sandals, possibly tying themselves to something in order to save it. That vision, with an added organic inner-city sneer, is of course just what Opposition Leader Tony Abbott and Co. want you to see. And they want you to seethe with anger and man the barricades at the thought of effete hippies making your life more expensive and stressful just so the Greens can see their world of socialist utopia come to pass.

Labor hasn't helped. While it's happy for the Greens' votes to enable it to form a government, it is also equally happy to have the Greens portrayed as flaky libertarians. The genesis or wisdom of that strategy is questionable, but then this is the parliamentary Labor Party and their genius strategists have been found wanting. Either way the two main political parties feel they can manipulate prejudices about the Greens because we believe them.

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From its name to the logo — that placard-friendly green triangle – the Greens need to be a little less sandal and a little more savvy.

The Greens are a brand and like all brands they carry a set of images and associations as soon as we hear the word or see the logo. I have a problem with the word Green. It suggests something pastoral and bucolic, a return to some pre-industrial, pre-lapsarian world when everything was lovely and made out of wood. I'm not sure I want to live in that world, I like my iPhone too much, but then I also like an awful lot of Green policies.

Sometimes you have to re-brand to overcome negative perceptions, the Spastics Society became Scope but its mission never faltered. Not being a "Greenie" any more wouldn't necessarily be a sell-out.

If branding is about anything at all it's about being different. Brands originated as suppliers branded their cattle or hallmarked their metals so that buyers knew what they were getting, something different and better. It's a basic principle, Coke is "The Real Thing" and nothing else is the same — it makes our choices easier.

I have to ask myself what is the Greens secret recipe?

If we look across the spectrum of politics and consider what makes the Greens different today we see it's not their environmental politics. Belief in climate change is mainstream to all bar a few shock jocks, the odd snarling, cynical, right-wing bully and Tony Abbott. You can believe in the need to take action on global warming and not vote Green.

Which sparks the question — so why would we?

What does make the Greens different? They look like the sole face of decency in politics, a party principled enough to take a stand against vested interests and prejudice. They have pushed the debate on the legalisation of gay marriage, the humane treatment of asylum seekers and the link between the environment and the economy. The Greens fuse collective responsibility with individual liberty. You can support these policies without wanting to tie yourself to a tree.

The Greens don't need a new brand because the environmentalism they promote is passe, but because their platform of policies has the ability to appeal to far more people than it does and preconceptions around what's "Green" may stand in the way of that. One difference I see in the Greens is a willingness to present ethical arguments for policies rather than technocratic ones. So while Labor fumbles the carbon tax the Greens link it to social equity: big industry profits from polluting something we all own so it should be made to pay for the privilege or stop.

The Greens need a brand that is less about trees and more about people. In the absence of any sense of moral certitude from Labor the Greens brand ought to do justice to their policies and reflect their vision for a just, equitable, diverse and sustainable society. A brand that sounds like dangerous socialism to Alan Jones could sound an awful lot like common sense to a lot of people.